Pope Francis made his strongest statements yet about climate change Wednesday, rebuking fossil fuel companies and urging countries to make an immediate transition to renewable energy.

In a new document titled “Laudate Deum,” or “Praise God,” the pope criticizes oil and gas companies for greenwashing new fossil fuel projects and calls for more ambitious efforts in the West to tackle the climate crisis. In the landmark apostolic exhortation, a form of papal writing, Francis says that “avoiding an increase of a tenth of a degree in the global temperature would already suffice to alleviate some suffering for many people.”

“Laudate Deum” is a follow-up to the pope’s 2015 encyclical on climate change, known as “Laudato Si’,” which lamented the exploitation of the planet and cast the protection of the environment as a moral imperative. When it was released, “Laudato Si’” was viewed as an extraordinary move by the head of the Catholic Church to address global warming and its consequences.

Nearly a decade later, the pope’s message has taken on new urgency.

  • Krauerking
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    1 year ago

    Fucking hell. All the simple minded people in these comments who have no sense of nuance or incremental benefits… nothing will ever be perfect enough for them and they will be just as helpful for fixing the messes of our society as the ones who deny it at this rate.

    Yeah it’s a little and yeah it’s late but it’s something and he can be right about this and problematic elsewhere. Not everything can be solved with the mindset of an 8 year old who thinks people are either good or evil

    • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I think all the hate is justified. Pope has been quick to point fingers in various directions for a while now but he never moved a step to fix issues in his own yard making whole church extremely hypocritical.